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Markets & Business

Balancer Hit by Potential $128M Exploit on Ethereum (4 minute read)

Balancer, an Ethereum-based DEX and automated portfolio manager, appears to have been exploited for over $128.6 million, with large outflows detected from its vaults. Blockchain security firm PeckShield and analytics providers like Nansen flagged unusual transfers, including 6,587 WETH ($24.5M), 6,851 osETH ($26.9M), and 4,260 wstETH ($19.3M). Balancer confirmed it is "aware of a potential exploit" affecting V2 pools and is working with security teams to assess the damage. Early reports suggest the breach stemmed from a faulty smart contract check, possibly impacting older V2 forks across multiple chains.

November the New October for Crypto ETFs (4 minute read)

Four crypto ETFs launched this week using a procedural shortcut requiring "no delaying amendment" language in S-1 filings that automatically become effective after 20 days unless the SEC issues a stay, which circumvents problems caused by the government shutdown. Fidelity and Canary Capital filed updated S-1s on Thursday for spot Solana and XRP ETFs, respectively, which could launch as early as November 13 if the SEC doesn't intervene. Some filings like XRP haven't received SEC feedback, unlike reviewed Solana, HBAR, and Litecoin applications, potentially prompting the agency to halt automatic approval.

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Innovation & Launches

Zcash Q4 2025 Roadmap (4 minute read)

Electric Coin Co. unveiled its Q4 2025 roadmap for Zcash, which focuses on ephemeral addresses for every swap via NEAR Intents protocol, automatic transparent address generation after receiving funds, and Keystone hardware wallet improvements. ZEC price surged from $50 in mid-September to $420, while Orchard protocol shielded supply crossed 4.1 million tokens, with the bulk of growth occurring since mid-September. The roadmap builds on the August 28 decentralized off-ramp and October 1 on-ramp releases in the Zashi wallet.

Hong Kong Opens Access to Global Crypto Liquidity Pools (4 minute read)

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will now allow licensed local crypto exchanges to share global order books with their international counterparts, a major step toward integrating the city's markets into the global crypto liquidity network. The move marks a shift from Hong Kong's previous pre-funded, closed-border settlement model, allowing exchanges to offer better price discovery and competitiveness.

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Guides & Tutorials

Must-Watch dApps After Monad Mainnet Launch (19 minute read)

Monad launched its airdrop claim portal on October 14 ahead of mainnet, with 293 dApps in its ecosystem directory leveraging technical features like MonadBFT, parallel execution, and MonadDB for onchain order books and high-performance applications impossible on other EVMs. Top-funded projects include liquid staking protocol aPriori, spot DEX Kuru, and perp DEX Perpl. The ecosystem shows strong clustering around CLOB-based DEXs, prediction markets, and AI infrastructure, though analysis notes a lack of stablecoin and RWA projects despite the Monad Foundation's July acquisition of Portal.

Unsecured stablecoin credit (5 minute read)

The $1.21 trillion US credit card market hasn't seen major structural innovation since Capital One introduced risk-based pricing in the 1990s, creating an opportunity to shift unsecured consumer credit to stablecoin rails with real-time receivable tokenization. One proposed model allows issuers to tokenize card receivables between authorization and settlement, receiving instant USDC funding from decentralized credit pools before repaying via smart contracts when borrowers pay. Transaction-level underwriting pioneered by BNPL lenders like Affirm produces discrete, standardized receivables ideal for specialized onchain credit pools targeting specific borrower profiles or purchase categories with dynamic pricing. The shift requires rebuilding credit infrastructure, including decentralized identity systems, lender credibility assessments replacing S&P/Moody's ratings, and onchain-integrated collections mechanisms, to complete the triangle of stablecoin-based saving, yield, and borrowing.

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Miscellaneous

Why Crypto Can't Build Anything Long-Term (5 minute read)

Crypto's structure makes long-term building nearly impossible, as founders are trapped in an 18-month narrative cycle where hype dictates funding, talent, and user attention. Each new trend, from NFTs to DeFi to AI agents, forces rapid pivots to stay relevant, leaving most projects perpetually "almost finished" but never complete. With capital chasing attention, not execution, unfinished products signal limitless potential while finished ones expose limitations. Founders, investors, and even users are incentivized to pivot, not persevere, since the market rewards novelty over durability.

Ethereum's Security Depends on Decentralizing L2s (3 minute read)

Although Ethereum L1 is nearly incorruptible, its Layer 2 ecosystem still depends too heavily on multisigs and centralized sequencers, making it vulnerable and incomplete in achieving true Ethereum-level security. We need to enable decentralized sequencing, through shared or Based rollup designs, to enable secure, composable liquidity and state across L1 and L2. Without this, each rollup must rebuild costly infrastructure like oracles and liquidity, undermining Ethereum's scaling vision.

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Quick Links

Longer Token Vesting Is Key to Building Durable Crypto Projects (2 minute read)

a16z's proposal for 5+ year token vesting should be the standard for sustainable crypto market structure.

ZeroHash Secures MiCAR License to Expand Across Europe (2 minute read)

ZeroHash Europe has obtained authorization under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, allowing it to offer regulated crypto and stablecoin infrastructure services across the EEA.

Crypto Market at a Crossroads: Bear vs. Bull Signals (3 minute read)

Conflicting forces shape the next phase of the crypto market.

DeFi Pays You in Monopoly Money (10 minute read)

Figure's Prime platform delivered 8.5% APY from real borrower interest payments (9.76% gross minus servicing fees) with $21 million committed capital, contrasting traditional DeFi yields sourced primarily from token inflation like Solana staking (>90% from emissions) and Ethereum (mixed fee/issuance model).

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Esham Macauley & Lincoln Murr

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